LGBT newsmagazine The Advocate has made the surprising selection of Salt Lake City, Utah, as the gayest city in the United States, beating out the likes of San Francisco and New York.

The measure used was not simply a city’s gay and lesbian population according to the U.S. Census (by which measure San Fransisco would have been the winner), but rather what the magazine calls a city’s “per capita queerness,” which took into account statistics like the number of openly gay public officials and the number of gay bookstores. Valerie Larabee, director of Salt Lake City’s Utah Pride Center, added that despite Utah’s reputation for social conservatism, Salt Lake City was also the first municipality in the state to pass an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Another surprising city on the list was Knoxville, Tenn., which was chosen for its LGBT nightlife and gay-friendly churches. The Advocate’s top five cities were rounded out, in descending order, by Orlando, Fla., Cambridge, Mass., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Seattle.

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